Repaying the Favour
by MikoGalatea
Summary: Written for monthlysupergo's Fic or Treat challenge on DW. After a date at the arcade, Chiaki and Fuyuhiko have hot drinks and a little talk. Set between episodes 4 and 5 of DR3 Side Despair, sometime during the timeskip.


This was written for monthlysupergo's Fic or Treat challenge on Dreamwidth as a treat for Seerofrage.

I'd never considered Chiaki/Fuyuhiko as a ship before they suggested it to me as one of the possible _DR_ relationships I could write for them, but once I had an idea going for it, I found that I quite enjoyed writing this! Now I wish more than ever that _DR3_ had gone further into Chiaki's bonds with the rest of her class than it did.

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" **Repaying the Favour** **"**

"Wanna go get coffee now, Nanami?"

Chiaki and Fuyuhiko had just left the arcade together, stepping out into the cool autumn air that filled the town. The sky was light grey, and damp orange leaves were scattered here and there on the streets. Everyone around them was dressed warmly for the weather, and they themselves were no exception; Fuyuhiko was wearing a jacket over the top of his usual uniform, while Chiaki had her hood pulled up over her head to the point where only a few flips of her hair peeked out from underneath it.

"Hmm..." Chiaki pondered the question for a moment, as if her mind had been elsewhere. "Yep, sounds good to me, I think."

Fuyuhiko groaned and shook his head. "C'mon, you gotta wake up more than that..." He tugged on her sleeve a little, guiding her towards the nearest coffee shop that happened to be just down the street and round the next corner from the arcade. "Let's hurry up already. You look like you're gonna drop off any second."

He was right; Chiaki's eyelids were periodically drooping even as the two of them were walking along, and she let out a yawn as if to irrefutably confirm that she was sleepy. Fuyuhiko couldn't say he was surprised; they _had_ just been playing games for at least a couple of hours, and Chiaki had gotten so heavily into most of the ones they tried out – he'd simply stepped away and watched her continue playing from the side whenever he lost a few rounds – that she'd hardly looked away from a screen in all that time.

"Okay," she said after a significant pause. "Let's sit down and have something to drink for a while."

xx

The coffee shop wasn't what Fuyuhiko would've picked as his first choice, he had to admit, but it had a comfortable enough atmosphere, the selection of drinks was decent, and what the pair did order came to them nice and hot and tasted good; he couldn't fault the experience too much, especially now that Chiaki looked like she'd perked up again.

"Thanks for this, Kuzuryuu-kun." With her hood back down, she gave him a sincere smile from across the table they were sharing. "I had a lot of fun with you today. It was a good date."

"D-date?" Fuyuhiko tightened his hold on his drink at the sound of that word, his cheeks turning red.

"A date," Chiaki repeated, quizzically tilting her head to one side. "You called it a date when you invited me out. Remember?"

Fuyuhiko shut his eyes tight. "Yeah, I did say that, but..." His blush quickly deepened and spread across his entire face. "Argh, dammit! Anyway!" Now he turned his head to one side, pretending to look out of the window. "G-glad you enjoyed it," he mumbled.

"Yep," Chiaki agreed. "Did you have fun too?"

"Heh, it was okay," Fuyuhiko said, facing her again after having gone back to normal. "You having a good time was what really mattered." He smirked. "So what if I ain't as good at games as you?"

Chiaki puffed out her cheeks at that. "Games aren't all about being good at them. More importantly, Kuzuryuu-kun..." Her expression softened, becoming one of quiet concern. "Are you okay?"

Her question made Fuyuhiko stare at her in silence for a second. "Where the hell did _that_ -" But before he could finish, he realised exactly where she was coming from.

That. Of course. It had been mere months since _that_ happened.

 _Shit, is she still worried for me over that?_

"I wanted you to enjoy yourself as well," Chiaki explained, her hand on her heart. "I just want to help you in any way I can. I know it's not much, but..." She looked sadly downwards as her words trailed off.

Fuyuhiko sighed. "Nah, it's good. What you've been doing is fine, so no need to go all out or anything." Now he hung his head as well. "No need to feel sorry for me, either."

"I didn't mean it like that," Chiaki said firmly, meeting his eyes and prompting him to look up again. "I really did want to go on this date with you, for both of us. I wasn't doing it out of pity at all."

Fuyuhiko managed a bit of a smile. "I hear you," he said, accepting her at her word. "I mean, I invited you to start with, so I wasn't trying to blame you or anything." He took a sip of his drink, then breathed out as he set it back down. "Y'know, you ain't bad, Nanami. You're like... some rock that helps keep me grounded or whatever, so I can hold my shit together no matter what. That's just what I need now, 'cos no way in hell could I face _her_ again if I can't get through this."

Chiaki nodded in understanding, listening patiently while she took a long drink of her own coffee.

"I can do this," Fuyuhiko continued with some resolve. "I've got Peko, I've got the rest of the class, and I've got you." He briefly flashed her a confident grin. "Heh! So long as you're around, I bet I can handle anything that comes my way. I guess I wanted to thank you for that."

A faint pinkness tinted Chiaki's cheeks. "That's why you asked me out," she said, smiling.

"Yeah, something like that," Fuyuhiko admitted with a shrug. "Thought I should pay you back for all you've done for me." Then he reached under his jacket to tug on his necktie while he awkwardly looked up at the ceiling. "Didn't know what the fuck I should've been doing with it, though. I've never been one for having fun, so I just ended up doing stuff you like with you."

"It's okay," Chiaki reassured him. "I don't know what else to do on a date either, and I had a good time with you today anyway... but Kuzuryuu-kun..." She tilted her head to the side and blinked at him. "Didn't you also ask me out because you like me?"

Fuyuhiko froze in place momentarily, staring at her with his mouth hanging open. "That's..." As his cheeks quickly burned bright red again, he jerked back in his seat and folded his arms, sharply turning his head to face away from her. "It's just my way of repaying the favour, you hear me!" _That was part of it too,_ he grumbled under his breath after that outburst, _but dammit, you didn't have to say it like that! This is what I get for calling it a date!_

Chiaki simply gave a soft laugh. "Thanks. I appreciate it, I think."

Once Fuyuhiko had time to regain his composure, the two finished their drinks before leaving the coffee shop and heading back out into the autumn air together.

 **Fin.**

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As always, comments and constructive criticism are both welcome and appreciated.


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